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Note: It seems this episode will be late due to NFL overrun, I'll open the review thread once the episode ends instead of just before it begins like usual, assuming no other mod or admin. decide to open it first.

I know a lot of people were down on Greatest Story D'ohed and last week's ep. But this had to have been the most embarrassing episode in a very very very long time. I don't even know where to begin. I don't even think the staff was proud of it based on the padded couch gag and the short show recognition at the end, with a sketch that might have been cool if they hadn't already done it in Yokel Chords. The Social Network parody from that Krusty episode last month got dragged and retreated into an attempt at a full episode here. Re-using that much material within three episodes has to be a new record. The only genuine laugh for me was Lovejoy agreeing with Beaker. The other social media jokes were obvious as hell. The mall intro was surprisingly full of misses. And there was basically no story to this episode at all.

Last but not least, KILL THE FOUR ACT FORMAT immediately! The third act wasn't even two minutes long! Alright, enough steam blown off. This was bad.

Initial thoughts before airing:
A trendy A-plot involving Lisa, with a wacky B-plot involving Selma and Patty. Boy, if this goes wrong... it's going to be a doozey! I have high hopes for this, simply based on the writer of the episode... don't let me down, J. Stewart Burns. (I wonder if we'll get to see Selma's adopted Chinese baby, Ling?)

Unfunny chalkboard gag right off the bat with a Pink Floyd reference...
Then some Gershwin, and Letterman... and it's the show.

ACT ONE:
(Right into the story, that's nice!)
I like how Rainier Wolfcastle looks haggard!
"Let's see how long we can keep them waiting!"

Homer, then Maggie, getting hit by the trolley.
The "In Memoriam" for the gift cards.
Otto rides Bart.
Homer- "I'll take it, provided you charge me for services Google offers for free!"
Mapple Guy- "I already have!"
(Lots of great jokes in the opening act, and they feel like a family rather than a group of wacky characters.)

ACT FOUR:
(I like the use of the courtroom bumpers.)
Kearney- "Damn, I got 'ass shraped!'"
Meh... who didn't see the ambulance joke coming?
"I don't know how to use the phone on my phone!"
(Second time this season with the choral version of "Creep." Use it or loose it, I guess. They paid for the rights, after all.)

LOL! What a way to end the episode... the Winklevoss twins kissing!
Wait, it's not over!
Nice callback to Dark Stanley in the "Yokel Chords" episode!

Man... every time J. Stewart Burns takes on a topic that I feel could go right off the rails for the Simpsons, he delivers. This episode started strong and kept going right to the end. Some people may not like this one... but I did, and in season 23, that's a rarity for me.
4/5

Now... Napoleon Dynamite. (Please be better than Allen Gregory!)

Last edited by Tubbb!; 01-15-2012 at 08:39 PM.
Reason: Now... with pictures!

Originally Posted by SpeedwaySquad

You liked this episode, I didn't. There's no need to get so worked up about it.

"In Rand McNally, they wear hats on their feet and hamburgers eat people!"

Clearly we can count on J. Stewart Burns for beating a joke to death over and over and over and over again in a single episode. I could tolerate the excessive future gags in Holidays of Future Passed due to the fact that many were genuinely funny and there was a lot of time & care invested into making that episode something special. Tonight's episode, however... was just one non-stop rip on social media with little care for heart, effort or story structure.

I really don't want to give a third-consecutive 1/5 score for a PABF episode but given the raised expectations for Burns after his last effort I feel I have no choice.
Tonight was just a huge disappointment and if the PABF episodes fail to improve then maybe the show really should have ended after the last actors' holdout.
And it's a real shame too given the way Season 23 opened up so strong.

(Incidentally, I did like the Angry Nerds gag. The bowling for nerds gag that followed I did not. Lots and lots of time filler this week.)

Not that good. I think we could've easily done without having Lisa tell the story in a courthouse; it seems like it could've progressed as a normal episode. I think it was used mainly to fill time. Some jokes went on much too long, most notably the Homer/Grampa exchange, and the most of the jokes only got a chuckle out of me. Still, nothing TERRIBLE, so I'll give it a 2/5.

Oh, and my hope of getting to enjoy Patty and Selma was sure shot down. Just make it a single-plot episode if that's all you can get! Seriously, there's nothing wrong with not having a B-plot!

On second thought...yeah, this was pretty terrible. 1/5, my second least favorite of the season.

I'm not sure what to even say about this one honestly. As I said in the speculation thread I have no interest in Facebook and haven't seen the Social Network so I just sat there staring at the screen for most of it. The episode was really short with all the padding at the beginning and end so I really have to wonder why it even got made. I liked the art style of the little story at the end even though it basically was just the same as that Dark Stanly thing or whatever it was from a few years ago. It wasn't funny or that entertaining, but at least IT STOOD OUT! My main problem I guess was since the story wasn't gonna do it for me regardless I was hoping for laughs, but there were almost none to be found here. I don't think I laughed out loud more than once. I enjoyed the Homer and Grampa banter at first but it went on for too long, and the Lovejoy muppet personality quiz thing was good, but anything else I may have enjoyed....I don't remember. It was all just so forgettable and bland...

Based on a first watch I can pretty confidently say this is J. Stewart Burns' worst written episode to date. Politically Inept, for as harsh a critique as it got here last week, was far superior to this. I don't really get the sense that it will get much better on re-watch either. 1.5/5, a kind 2 on the poll. The only reason I'm not more disappointed is because I wasn't expecting too much going in.

Yeah that Patty and Selma thing shouldn't have even been in the episode since it only got that one scene and maybe a hint during their other microscopic appearance. I honestly forgot all about it until it randomly showed up at the end, was it a reference to The Social Network or something? As I've said it went right over my head if it was. The episode description was pretty misleading regarding that "B-story."

Yeah that Patty and Selma thing shouldn't have even been in the episode since it only got that one scene and maybe a hint during their other microscopic appearance. I honestly forgot all about it until it randomly showed up at the end, was it a reference to The Social Network or something? As I've said it went right over my head if it was. The episode description was pretty misleading regarding that "B-story."

I watched The Social Network and this episode did not even attempt to do a decent parody.

A really crappy satire of an issue we understood from the start, but they kept blatantly beating us over the head with awful jokes and over-explanations. Choppy pacing and I didn't laugh once. Also, I'm fucking sick of the ragdoll, unrealistic, bullshit reality where characters are flying, using each other as pins, skateboards or whatever else. Seriously this is such a different show now, when you compare it from freakin' season 14.

That sums up how I feel about this one. I never saw The Social Network, did it take place in court? Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING felt rushed, and yet, the episode still ran short. The Winklevoss twins kissing was the second worst gag they did this year. There were a few high points, like Bart and Millhouse turning everything into guns. It really feels like they had maybe 14, 15 minutes of story, and they stretched the heck out of it. A couple of gags went on too long, like the Homer/Hippo argument and the Ask Jeeves one. That would have been funny as a throwaway or background event, but they made it way too obvious. Also, why was that Patty and Selma bit in there at all?

Season 14 really is a golden age compared to this season. This whole season I feel like they can't even tell an actual story anymore. Even the lauded holiday episode I maintain still barely had a story to it. Good characterizations but no story. Honestly, season 23 so far is much worse than any Scully one. The show isn't firing on any cylinder whatsoever right now.

Pathetic! The biggest flaw was making it one of those "flashback" episode intended to take place in "modern" times. They did well with that concept in the 2nd season's "Dancin' Homer" but this episode is far from that. I laughed at the gags with the bullies and found some of the communications/actions between Bart and Milhouse (and Bart and the bullies) entertaining and the scenes after the huge car pile but before the boating scene were not bad but that's all. The rowing scene between Patty and Selma and the Winklevoss twins was bad padding. The Edward Gorey like story right after the first closing credit and before the remaining closing credits was even worse padding.

Expect this episode to be ranked much higher in the Nielsens due to the football game that aired before it. Also, expect those higher ratings due to those two new episodes of Napoleon Dynamite that air one after The Simpsons and one after Family Guy in FOX's attempt to get a new animation domination success.

The entire time I watched this I could tell nohomers wad going to hate it. You guys are very obvious. The episode lacked a "heartwarming" cheese scene and had a lot of over the top gags. In other words, everything you guys hate. That being said, I laughed a lot, so I was happy. I don't cling to the classic era so I had no problem enjoying this for what I thought it was, a goofy, and fun half hour.

This is the first episode I've watched (Since season 8's Mysterious Voyage of Homer Simpson) in a public place. (a bar) My how the times have changed. When I was in New Orleans, the whole bar was watching and laughing with Voyage, now most people were like "I didn't even know they still made episodes. This was a strange episode. I feel like I need to watch it again before a proper grade. It had a lot of good jokes, (Bart and Jimbo punching Martin, Ralph quotes on Lisa's friend list,) but a lot missed, a lot. The kissing at the end was not funny at all. The long couch gag, the segment at the end, and the total running time of like 3 minutes for the B-plot, I can't figure out why this episode was even made. My first thought on seeing all the Mapple computers was, "well Nohomers are gonna gripe about this". lol. I think the writers are overusing it just to piss us off. The whole Otto using Bart as a skateboard was so fu#$(ng stupid. Like an above poster said, totally different show. I didn't stick around to watch the Napoleon cartoon. I hated that movie, and I saw Mike Scully's name. Anyway, my first airing rating would be a 2 out of 5. I did laugh at a few things.

Season 14 really is a golden age compared to this season. This whole season I feel like they can't even tell an actual story anymore. Even the lauded holiday episode I maintain still barely had a story to it. Good characterizations but no story. Honestly, season 23 so far is much worse than any Scully one. The show isn't firing on any cylinder whatsoever right now.

I really think it has a lot to do with the four act format. I do agree with you on that one.

What I don't get is why you and lionelhutz123 are comparing this season with Season 14? Nothing wrong with that... but it just seems so random to pick Season 14. It's quite clear that The Simpsons has sunk to a level it will never recover from. In all honestly, comparing this season to any other season of The Simpsons is like comparing apples and bananas at this point.

I'm not trying to be mean, or a smartass, but why all the comparison to Season 14? I'm just curious.

I really think it has a lot to do with the four act format. I do agree with you on that one.

What I don't get is why you and lionelhutz123 are comparing this season with Season 14? Nothing wrong with that... but it just seems so random to pick Season 14. It's quite clear that The Simpsons has sunk to a level it will never recover from. In all honestly, comparing this season to any other season of The Simpsons is like comparing apples and bananas at this point.

I'm not trying to be mean, or a smartass, but why all the comparison to Season 14? I'm just curious.

Oh I did it because he mentioned it. Although that is the older season most in my mind lately because I rewatched the whole thing fairly recently when the DVD came out.

One of the weirdest episodes of The Simpsons I have ever seen. It started off with a 1 minute and 55 second long intro which, considering the episode and ending music lasted for 21 minutes and 32 seconds, was far too long but okay I'll accept that. They first introduce the plot of 'Springface' by having Lisa be cross examined by Burns' weird lawyer guy which was appropriate but Lisa explained it through 6 and a half minutes of pointless anecdotes about the family driving into a underground carpark, annoying a fellow driver, a stupid and unfunny meeting with Lenny, Lisa meeting her fellow 2nd graders who don't like her and a chance for more Mapple awareness (Al Jean you genius!). As it went back into the family kitchen it improved slightly, the cringey Homer/Shakespeare gag aside, as we finally get to the part of Lisa inventing 'Springface' and only 10 minutes in! The Ralph jokes misfired but Jimbo and Bart beating up Martin was decent. Then we see Lisa and the geeks working on coding which again was appropriate but they wasted opportunity developing the plot by using it as a vehicle for Nelson's 'Angry Nerds' game which really did fail hard.

After it's established that the town are now using 'Springface' we get the best joke of the episode and it's not even laugh worthy - The Alcoholic hippo one. Then Lisa sees everyone is enjoying 'Springface', but she isn't because it turns out friends on the Internet doesn't mean friends in reality! Soon a random car crash results in Lisa having to shut down her creation, she is invited to play 'Marco Polo' with the girls who hated her only moments sooner. Here then comes the much dreaded Bouvier/Winklevoss subplot, oh wait it wasn't a subplot! Turns out it just showed the same clip we'd already seen and that incest kiss really gets all the funnier, kudos Senor Jean. I'll admit that the 'facts appearing on screen to establish some important points' but with characters like Groundskeeper Willie was fairly amusing but again not laugh worthy. As for that WTF ending after the ending? Well atleast they tried something different, didn't work out tho...

All in all just as I anticipated: very poor and not funny at all, with more disturbia and bad puns. I never thought it could be slightly worse than 'Politically Inept with Homer Simpson' but yes it was. 1/5, 2/10 F